Farm Households’ Coping Strategies to Climate Change: A Review
H. Shuaibu *
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Faculty of Agriculture/Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.
J. G. Akpoko
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Faculty of Agriculture/Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.
S. Umar
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Faculty of Agriculture/Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Natural and Human activities have overtime caused significant shift in the climate state creating climate change. The change in climate state affects all aspects of human life causing mass migration and great loss of human life. It is believed that agriculture is the most susceptible sector to climate change thus becoming the major force challenging the livelihood of farmers. Therefore, in response to these forces, farm households have developed strategies to cope with the aftermath of climate change induced shocks. The paper highlights some of these strategies among farmers in different locations. It was noted that the coping mechanisms adopted by farmers suggest that actions changes with different situations. Furthermore, it was noted that the sustainability of most of the coping strategies is questionable due to over dependence on the use of natural resources. It was thus suggested that for greater sustainability of the strategies, there is an urgent need to find sustainable livelihood strategies of life. This would only be possible through materialization of existing policies and programmes allocation of resources and building capacity of farm households.
Keywords: Climate change, farm household, coping strategies, agriculture